Performance artist Marina Abramovic was doing
a live art show that involved her sitting in silence for 1 minute opposite
complete strangers. Lots of people took part but one man in particular gave me
goosebumps and when you watch the video you will understand why. I’ll let you
watch the video and then I will explain a little more further below as I think
you will appreciate the back story more once you see what happens in the video.
In 1976, Abramović met Ulay, a West German artist who would become
her lover and collaborator for the next twelve years. The duo fell into an
impersonal abyss, losing their selfhoods and attempting to become a single
entity through arresting performances such asBreathing In/Breathing Out, where they locked
mouths and breathed each other’s exhaled breath, eventually filling their lungs
with carbon monoxide and falling unconscious. By 1988, their romance had run
its course; in typically atypical fashion, the pair decided to part by walking
from opposing ends of the Great Wall of China until they met in the middle, and
then said goodbye.
On the opening night of Abramović’s
retrospective in 2010, the erstwhile lovers were reunited. The video above shows Abramović, sitting and
steeling herself for her next silent interlocutor. Ulay approaches, and
Abramović, a veteran of such difficult performances, looks up to what may have
been the single most unexpected sight of the night, jolting her dignified
composure. Their reunion is a deeply tender scene.
